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This is a list of free and open-source software packages, computer software licensed under free software licenses and open-source licenses. Software that fits the Free Software Definition may be more appropriately called free software; the GNU project in particular objects to their works being referred to as open-source. [1] For more information about the philosophical background for open ...
Overview. "Free and open-source software" (FOSS) is an umbrella term for software that is simultaneously considered both free software and open-source software. [5] The precise definition of the terms "free software" and "open-source software" applies them to any software distributed under terms that allow users to use, modify, and redistribute ...
The Free Software Foundation ( FSF) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman [5] on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft ("share alike") terms, [6] such as with its own GNU General Public License. [7] The FSF was incorporated in Boston, [8] Massachusetts, United ...
The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedoms to run, study, modify, and share copies of software. [1] [2] Software which meets these requirements, The Four Essential Freedoms of Free Software, is termed free software .
Free software, libre software, or libreware [1] [2] is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions.
Richard Stallman, leader of the Free software movement and member of the free software foundation opposes the term open source being applied to what they refer to as free software. Although he agrees that the two terms describe almost the same category of software, Stallman considers equating the terms incorrect and misleading.
Public-domain software is software that has been placed in the public domain, in other words, software for which there is absolutely no ownership such as copyright, trademark, or patent. Software in the public domain can be modified, distributed, or sold even without any attribution by anyone; this is unlike the common case of software under exclusive copyright, where licenses grant limited ...
The Free Software Definition written by Richard Stallman and published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), defines free software as being software that ensures that the users have freedom in using, studying, sharing and modifying that software.